Lucia leads, fall foliage in full effect. All photos by Matthew Vandivort (@photorhetoric).

Ok, this was supposed to be a foliage preview ride, which is was, but it was also a refresher on bike handling and braking.

We all knew the leaves were changing. Despite a few hot days this week, fall was arriving and with that, beautiful foliage. This sort of ride is usually thought of as best found north of the city by at least a train ride: getting started up near Peekskill, Cold Spring, or Beacon. With our time constraints though, we had to keep it closer to the city. Luckily NY/NJ still presents great scenes right over the GWB.

GW Bridge sunrise. MIND THE CLAW. Photos by Matthew Vandivort (@photorhetoric)

The group rolled up Henry Hudson Drive (aka River Road). We had a few doses of a little extra excitement on this ride - I suppose most rides have these. One took place only a quarter mile into HH. Matt got to test his brakes as a runner we were approaching decided to suddenly do a U-turn and loop across the road without looking. Disc brakes 1; Runner 0.

Continuing up along 9W after HH, we made a right down the Tallman gravel trail to Piermont, and continued on to Nyack, where we made our stop for coffee and donuts at the usual spot. Pictured is the salted caramel donut. Not pictured was a pumpkin pie filled donut, which I highly recommend. We set out next to make a loop around Rockland Lake via Nyack Beach - great decision Liz!

To Be Determined - Photo Rhetoric - Team Ride-1037.jpg

On our way out of Nyack we headed back by way of a rail trail. Fall camping trips have also started. We passed a few bike camping groups, one of which was led by a French bulldog. He seemed to be the head scout being at the front in a cargo bike.

One minor flat on the rail trail, we had to stop to fix. We aren’t a Formula 1 team here and Liz’s mere mediocre pump fails to do the trick. Scott steps in with his pro level, ‘super fat’ pump. We’re talking high volume, with only about 20 strokes needed to get to a solid 80 PSI.

Almost back to the city when a few things hit us. One, I hit bonk city. Pretty simple case of ill preparedness. Two, a dark dressed cyclist rides out of the sunlight straight into Lucia on the sidewalk leading to the GWB. Luckily (I suppose) Lucia’s computer mount seemed to be the only casualty.

Maybe it was due to the leaves changing? Maybe it was just the unusually cool weather. Whatever the cause, we made it back in mostly one piece. We’ll try for less incidents next time, more foliage, but the same ‘super fat’ pump.